Wireless Router - What do you recommend?

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:17 am

My wireless router is dying. Before I replace it, I'd like to know what people here would suggest for a cost-effective replacement.

What do you recommend?
This is for my home where I use both wireless and wired for 7 or more computers. Don't want to spend a lot, but want to get a wired/wireless router I can trust.

My setup gets the Internet through an ADSL modem, from there I've been using a LinkSys BEFW11S4 and use wires to a couple small hubs to connect the wired computers and the wireless from the LinkSys for everywhere else.

For the last couple months, Internet connectivity has been intermittently \"going down\" (either no Internet at all or very limited). Power cycling the LinkSys (along with the DSL modem) has consistently brought connectivity back. I could suspect the DSL modem, but when it all goes down, the wireless signals from the LinkSys also go down and the wired computers also report no (or limited) connection. Since they connect to each other through the LinkSys, that points the finger at the LinkSys.

In the last couple weeks it's been happening more and more frequent, so I'm going to bite the bullet and replace the LinkSys.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:32 am

I have a D-Link DIR-655 and it is very good, but probably out of your price range.

WillyP · Post by **WillyP** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:22 pm

I've got a ZyXel X-550 That works ten times better than the one my Asus motherboard. But it's the only one I've owned, so I don't have any referance to compare. It has a usb port that is used, with a thumb drive, to set up the computers connected to it. It'd be neat if I could connect my printer to the usb port but no.

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:45 pm

Linksys WRT54GL

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:19 pm

Ah! That sounds REALLY familiar.

I was having that same problem with my own LinkSys BEFW11S4(v4). After a bunch of online research, I found that the culprit is the latest firmware update.

I rolled it back to firmware v1.50.14 (you'll have to do some searching to find it), and it's been fine ever since.

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:47 pm

Foil wrote:Ah! That sounds REALLY familiar.

I was having that same problem with my own LinkSys BEFW11S4(v4). After a bunch of online research, I found that the culprit is the latest firmware update.

I rolled it back to firmware v1.50.14 (you'll have to do some searching to find it), and it's been fine ever since.

VERY interesting...

Yes, I had "upgraded" to firmware 1.52.02 quite a few months back but hadn't associated this issue with that. Will give your suggestion a try. Found v1.50.14 at ftp.linksys.com /pub/network and have put it on.

Still... I'm thinking I might replace it anyway. It's wireless speeds are only so-so and I've never been able to get it to do WPA reliably (tho WEP usually works well). ... and I've got the wife convinced we need to replace it.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:15 am

a vote for something that can run dd-wrt.

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:00 pm

I've been using Linksys routers since I've had broadband. 0 problems.

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:10 pm

fliptw wrote:a vote for something that can run dd-wrt.

Probably a good idea. For those who don't know... more info here: http://www.dd-wrt.com and here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki

If I get the Linksys WRT54GL, I'll be considering that.

fliptw, What are your strongest reasons for the DD-WRT? (just curious)

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:56 am

I personally recommend Tomato. I don't know how it compares to DD-WRT, but I personally like it over the traditional firmware for two reasons:

1) \"Static DHCP\"--I don't think that this is a real term, but this is what they call it, and it refers to being able to guarantee that a DHCP client always gets the same IP address. This is done by reserving an IP address to a specified MAC address. Useful for small networks and port forwarding without the hassle of setting up static IP's.

2) It's pretty, and it's intuitive. (It uses AJAX and svg's.) An example of being intuitive is like being able to see the results of a site-survey in the same drop-down you choose your wireless channel. There's a lot of other cool stuff too.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:59 am

I have been using tomato for a while now

Free Software Section

will never go back to regular firmware

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 11:22 pm

Almost made it a whole week without having to power cycle the router.

The firmware 'downgrade' seems to have helped. Previously I might get two days, sometimes less than two hours. With some more time, this will prove it's worth.

... Anyone know if you can put two ADSL modems on the same phone line?

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:03 am

TechPro wrote:... Anyone know if you can put two ADSL modems on the same phone line?

No

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:55 am

BUBBALOU wrote:
TechPro wrote:... Anyone know if you can put two ADSL modems on the same phone line?
No

Thanks.

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:41 am

Thanks to ALL of you for your excellant advice!

It has been a couple weeks since starting this thread. As per Foil's suggestion, I 'downgraded' my LinkSys and it performed perfectly for almost a week straight. After one restart, it went another 5 days before again having a problem, then failed three times during the four days after that.

Yeah, I better get the new router before the money is used somewhere else. Before I order it, a couple questions.

1. Can the LinkSys WRT54GL (using either it's own firmware or the Tomato or DD-wrt setups) be configured to block a specific system from accessing the Internet while allowing only specific ports or programs to access the Internet (for things like anti-virus updates, etc.)?

One of my systems needs to be blocked from accessing the Internet (that's easy) but needs to let anti-virus software pull updates from the Internet. All the other computers would have Internet access.

2. If the WRT54GL cannot do that, can the D-Link DIR-655 (or one like it) do that? This might be a question for Krom.

3. The LinkSys WRT54GL is currently going for $62 while the WRT54G (not 'L') version is going for $44. If I don't change the firmware being used by the router, is there ANY reason for me to use the WRT54GL instead of the WRT54G ?

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:00 am

TechPro wrote:1. Can the LinkSys WRT54GL (using either it's own firmware or the Tomato or DD-wrt setups) be configured to block a specific system from accessing the Internet while allowing only specific ports or programs to access the Internet (for things like anti-virus updates, etc.)?

Yes. You could even say when its allowed access.

TechPro wrote: 3. The LinkSys WRT54GL is currently going for $62 while the WRT54G (not 'L') version is going for $44. If I don't change the firmware being used by the router, is there ANY reason for me to use the WRT54GL instead of the WRT54G ?

the WRT54GL is easier to flash dd-wrt onto, and has more ram. 4 MB of flash and 16 MB of ram, compared to 2 MB of flash and 8 MB of ram.

Unless its a version 4 or earlier WRT54G, which has the same specs as the GL-Unlikely if you are buying retail. Versions 5, 6, and 8 you need to use a micro version, which lacks some features.

To be frank, im advocating the firmware not any particular hardware. Any router that can run dd-wrt will work for what you need to do.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:49 am

fliptw wrote:
TechPro wrote:1. Can the LinkSys WRT54GL (using either it's own firmware or the Tomato or DD-wrt setups) be configured to block a specific system from accessing the Internet while allowing only specific ports or programs to access the Internet (for things like anti-virus updates, etc.)?

Yes. You could even say when its allowed access.

Actually I would say no, odds are the antivirus program uses HTTP / Port 80 to download its updates from the server, and you couldn't unblock it on the router without also unblocking generic web access. Only a software firewall on the PC could filter just web access and let the antivirus program still gather updates.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:22 pm

the firewall in dd-wrt can deny or allow access to selected websites / IP's for specific machines. You can even do time based blocks/allows.

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:59 pm

-- Bump --

The new WRT54GL came in Monday. Install was a breeze and a couple improvements were obvious from the start.

WPA worked easy and quick (old unit was reliable only on WEP)
Wireless speed clocked in at 36 Mbps (old would only get 10 Mbps max on the wireless)
Wired connects upload/download speeds are clocking in at an average of about 100k faster than previous.

After a couple more days of reliable performance I'll probably start playing around with either DD-wrt or Tomato firmwares.

So far so good.

EDIT: A little more adjustment ... and tonight I'm getting 56 Mbps on the wireless. Yeah, I'm pleased with it.

Wireless Router - What do you recommend?

Wireless Router - What do you recommend?

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